Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 19 - Second Week Down

The trip odometer stands at 4,456 kilometres meaning another 2,051 kilometres in the second week. Because of the remoteness of the areas we have been fuel costs have increased to almost $1,200 but now we are where we want to see, even the remoteness won’t cause fuel stress. Many of the future days we simply won’t have travelled, other than around the towns or into the countryside to view scenery or attractions.

We had 2 days in Kakadu this week, but I took it upon myself to do the driving these 2 days and that was over 400 kilometres for the 2 days. The price at Cooinda was 189.9 cents per litre whereas we have been able to fill in some places for less than 140 cents.

We have spent some money on site costs, opting for powered sites at night rather than free camping. I think our companions are easing us into that part of vanning. We have had a couple of goes so far but only ever one night at a time. I am sure as we head west there will be more and more chances to simply find a spot, stop, camp and enjoy what the view around provides.

We are “here” and we are doing what we intended. We are finding out why people rave about our great country. The sights we have seen have been amazing, the accommodations, given we are driving what can only be termed luxury vans behind us have been first rate. The Cooinda staff in particular were refreshingly warm and more than willing to offer advice. We are of course, their target market, but they seemed to go that little bit farther that we might have expected. Although I seem to be raving along every day, the word count has actually fallen from the first week, but that is probably more because of the first 2 chapters.

The travelling has been easy and touch wood except for a couple of minor mishaps (the dash cam doesn’t seem to want to stay in its holder and enjoys falling out) there have been no major issues with car or van. We have been having an issue with the RCD tripping but we think we are onto the problem – the toaster, and we will monitor it.

Darwin is a place of intrigue for me, one of my cousins had called it home for a long time but her and her family have migrated back to Orange recently. Hope they were climate adjusted when the snow came recently. It looks like being a week of 30 degrees plus for our time there.

We have started to enjoy ourselves. More and more people want to hear about what we are doing. I have a list of people I need to update every day. Thankfully my phone takes great pictures. I still get work related calls, but less than previously as most of the time we are out of range of a cell tower. It was interesting to get a call on top of the mesa overlooking Jabiru. It was short lived as we walked back to the car park.

Vanning is nothing like I expected, maybe it’s the people we are with, maybe I was oblivious to what it could be like, but I like it, so does Robyn. I have lived in caravan parks when times were tougher and that has polluted my perception as I have been “on the other side” so to speak of the experience. Yes, there are times when there is stress, like packing up to keep up with the others or the gas not working because the pressure gauges I put on them don’t work properly, but all in all, its as easy as it is meant to be. The Grey Nomadic existence, whilst a stigma in some ways is, in my opinion, the best way to see what there is to see, at your pace, without the pressure of holiday timings.

It allows you to stop and smell the roses. Like a snail you carry your home on your back, and wherever you park it, that is home for a while, be it in an idyllic free camp site or as we have done mostly to this time, in caravan parks.

I actually can’t wait to come back on our own and do it again. There was so much we didn’t see and although we have almost a week up our sleeves because of one thing or another, we have not been rushed. I am sure they will be used up, now we are in “gawk” mode.